About Moondance
Moondance is a well established ceilidh band featuring a dynamic front line of fiddle, guitar, sax/keys, one of the best rhythm sections in the business and a top caller. The band includes players from such ground breaking groups as 'The Cluster of Nuts Band', Nightwatch and Jellied Reels and special guests. With MoonDance you can be assured of the very best in danceable music.
The band is a long-standing stalwart of the burgeoning 'e-ceilidh' movement, a mix of English & Celtic social dance where the 'dancing' is more important than getting it 'right' and the purprose is to party - truly harmony in motion.
The music for the dances range from modern arrangements of traditional tunes from the British Isles and Europe, with a smattering of eclectic contemporary material and 'fun' numbers. The band can also provide incidental music to provide a complete night's entertainment. We can also provide music for "non-barn dances" from a waltz to a jive as well as material from our extensive concert set either as background music or as a musical interlude.
The band works with some of the UK's finest dance callers and can thus ensure that the audience will be in the best possible hands, an essential element if everyone is going to have a good time. The caller is well versed in running an enjoyable evening and will select dances to suit the ability of the audience.
Performance Info
Moondance offer three different line-ups. All line-ups include a caller;
Option 1:
A six piece band including a caller, fiddle, accordion/sax /keys, guitar, bass guitar and drums.
Option 2:
A five piece band including a caller, accordion/sax/keys, guitar, bass guitar and drums.
Option 3: A slightly more compact, semi-acoustic version of the band which consists of the front line; accordion/sax, violin, acoustic and semi-acoustic guitars and more ethnic hand percussion (bodhran, congas, djembe etc. - rather than full drum kit)
The duration of the dancing can be anything up to 3 hours - for any performance over 2 hours the band will need to take a short break. The band can play appropriate recorded music through the PA system during any breaks with the caller making any necessary announcements.
Testimonials
"Thank you all very much for doing such a fabulous job on Friday. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves" - Clare & Bernard (London)
"I would like to write and say thank you to and your band Moondance, for the wonderful evening we had when you played at our wedding on the 14th June at Water End. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and it was a great success for us." - Gemma & Andy (Surrey)
"I can thoroughly recommend them to English Ceilidh enthusiasts" - Mike Courthold (Dance Director, Chippenham Folk Festival)
"I'm pretty sure we set records last Friday for both the number of dancers who came along ... More importantly, everybody I spoke to enjoyed dancing to Moondance as much as I did. Thanks for a great night, & I daresay we'll be seeing you again." - Chris Broan (Phoenix Ceilidhs, Manchester)
"What a fantastic evening, I thoroughly enjoyed that" - Hastings Old Town Ceilidh Organiser (overheard)
"a big exciting sound... electric folk, jazz, ceilidh band and pure rock...all in one number" - Bucks Examiner
Repertoire
English/Celtic
Polkas
Hop-steps
Reels
Trad. (folk) Waltzes
Square Sets
Scottish
Dashing White Sergeant
The White Cockade
The Gay Gordons
The Flying Scotsman
Eightsome Reel [2]
Other...
Irish/Breton Celtic Dances
American Barn Dances
Continental Dances
French/Playford Branles
Swedish Masquerade
plus many more . . .
Popular
Moon Dance (Van Morrison)
Carrillon (Sky)
Work Out Fine (Ry Cooder)
Sweet Georgia Brown
Breton Tunes (Nightwatch)
La Chapka (Le Gop)
Kerry Set Polkas (Trad. Irish)
The Dark Island (Scottish)
The Barfly (Nightwatch)
Along with various traditional polkas, reels, gigs, hopsteps and waltzes from England, Eire, Scotland and the Continent.
Traditional/folk songs can be added to the set by prior arrangement.
Notes
The actual dances available on any particular night will depend on the caller's repertoire but will contain a good range of types of dances with many having dances specifically aimed at wedding audiences.
While the Scottish Dances are taken from the 'Scottish Country Dance' repertoire, MoonDance is not able to provide a full night of this kind of material. A Scottish Dance Band requires a very specialised repertoire and usually doesnít have a caller as the audience is expected to know the dances already. However MoonDance can provide an event with a Scottish - or indeed Irish, American or Continental - 'feel' which follows the more traditional Barn Dance format - i.e. with a caller leading the audience through the dances.